Fraser Mustard, the internationally recognized medical researcher and thinker, died of cancer in Toronto on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2011. He was 84.

Born in Toronto on Oct. 16, 1927, Dr. Mustard earned a medical degree from the University of Toronto in 1953. A researcher as well as a clinician, Dr. Mustard was initially interested in heart disease, but gradually broadened his fields of study to include not only the entire body but the mind and the social and intellectual potential of individuals, especially children.

A founding member of the Faculty of Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton in 1966, he became Dean and Vice-President of the Faculty of Health Sciences there in 1972. A decade later he became the founding president of The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, one of the foremost research centres and think tanks in this country.

In the 1990s he co-chaired an influential study for the Ontario government, The Early Years Study – Reversing the Real Brain Drain, which many suggest had a direct impact on the province’s decision to institute all day kindergarten.

Pre-deceased by his wife Betty, he is survived by his six children and nine grandchildren. A celebration of his life has been planned for the Great Hall, Hart House, University of Toronto on Friday, Nov. 25, at 1 p.m.

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